Missed the Train
by OneshotPrincess
Summary: Rachael Jane Grayson met her first crush while riding an inter-city train. She was thirteen and she was not sure how old her crush was. All she knew was that he had bright, red hair and sparkling, green eyes and that she was hopelessly smitten with him. fem!Dick/Wally. Rated T for implied sex.


**A/N: **I have been in love with Young Justice for quite some time now but couldn't really work up the courage to write a fanfiction myself until now. I was inspired by a similar fanfiction I read here a while back but for the life of me I cannot remember its name. Sorry.

This takes place in non-superhero AU. They are all just ordinary people. It's also fem!Robin/Nightwing because I can. Rule 63 is fun.

I have no idea how inter-city trains in America work so I'm going with my own country's one which has four seats facing each other.

**Warning:** Birdflash and Possible OoC

I don't own Young Justice.

~/ *** \~

Rachael Jane Grayson met her first crush while riding an inter-city train. She was thirteen and she was not of sure how old her crush was. She had been in some city or the other for an inter-school competition but on the way back, the school bus had broken down, forcing her and her classmates to take the train.

She had been sitting alone (she didn't fit in with most of her classmates) and staring out the window when someone sat down in the seat directly across her.

Rachael raised her eyes to look at who the newcomer was-

And then she lost her heart almost immediately.

~/ *** \~

Since then, Rachael began looking for excuses to take the train again. She joined an advanced program for mathletes which was held in Central just for the hope of seeing her again. And she was successful. Despite Bruce and Alfred's many protests, she convinced them to let her ride the train instead of one of Bruce's private cars.

Three days a week, Rachael took the train from Gotham to Central and each of these days, the redhead sat across from her which gave her ample time to study him. They both always got off at the same station in Central but while Rachael headed towards Central's high school, the redhead went elsewhere.

He had bright, red hair and sun-kissed skin which was marked with freckles. He was older than her and taller too. He constantly fidgeted, shifted and stretched. It seemed to Rachael that he had a hard time being still which she found hilarious. After all, Alfred had done a lot to drill proper etiquette into her brain which included sitting very still in your seat.

The redhead always had his cell phone with him as well. If he wasn't staring out the window, he was texting. Sometimes, he laughed aloud at the texts. He had a fruity, infectious laugh and whenever he laughed; his bright green eyes seemed to light up. It made Rachael want to laugh along with him. More importantly, it made her stomach flutter in an unreasonable manner.

Sometimes he would catch Rachael staring. She would blush and stare determinedly at her lap for the rest of the ride. He never said anything so neither did Rachael.

~/ *** \~

Rachael often imagined what it would be like to introduce Bruce to a boyfriend like that. She imagined that Bruce wouldn't be happy with him. Of course Bruce wouldn't be happy with any boyfriend she might bring home. That man was a bit over-protective.

So Rachael never told Bruce or Alfred about the redhead. Instead she kept imagining. She kept practicing conversations in her mind although she knew they would never happen. The words always seemed to get stuck in her throat. She would open her mouth but the redhead would be staring out the window and she would not have the courage to dredge the words out. So Rachael would close her mouth and lower her head morosely.

If only she was better-looking, or maybe even older then perhaps he would notice her and he would be the one to initiate conversation. It would save her a lot of trouble.

"You should just talk to him," Barbara advised.

She was lying on her bed, trying to concentrate on her homework while simultaneously talking to Barbara Gordon on the phone. She had made the mistake of telling her about her unfortunate 'crush' (she still wasn't sure if that was the appropriate word to use) and since then, she had been calling Rachael every day to bother her about her non-existent love-life. Barbara was her best friend but she was starting to regret ever telling her.

"What harm could it do? If he rejects you, you quit the program and forget about him. If he doesn't reject you-problem solved!"

"I barely even know the guy, Barbara," Rachael complained. "It's not that simple."

"It is that simple," she insisted. "You need to talk to him to get to know him, right? And after you get to know him, you can ask him out. Chances are he likes you too. You _are_ very adorable," she informed her.

Rachael had to roll her eyes at this point. "Whatever you say Barbara," she told her dismissively.

"You listen to me, Rachael Grayson," her voice suddenly became extremely cold and demanding, almost making Rachael cringe. It was probably a trait she had picked up from her father, Rachael thought.

"Tomorrow, when you get on the train you are going to talk to that guy. You are going to learn his name and you are going to have a decent conversation with him," she told her severely. "Then you are coming home and showering me and the girls with the details, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Rachael replied with a mock salute before cutting the line. Her last thought before going back to homework was a sour one-the fact that she seriously needed some less nosy friends.

Barbara Gordon was disappointed the next day because Rachael still hadn't talked to the redhead. It was not for lack of trying though. It was because the redhead hadn't taken the train that day. Rachael had spent the entire ride worrying and feeling like an idiot.

Where was she? Was she alright? Did something bad happen? Rachael kept running thoughts and scenarios over her head. None of them were pleasant. She wished that she could talk to the redhead. Ask him about what was wrong; about why he hadn't taken the train but that was impossible. Rachael did not have his phone number; she did not know where he lived. The truth was they were complete strangers to each other.

So Rachael swallowed her disappointment and told herself that the redhead was fine. There was nothing wrong and he would take the train the next day. But the redhead did not take the train the next day either. He never took the again at all. And Rachael Grayson spent her train rides just hopelessly pining away.

"I blew it, Babs," Rachael informed her on the phone. "I should have talked to him while I had the chance but I didn't and now it just…sucks," she sighed.

She listened to Barbara's consoling words half-heartedly. All she could really concentrate on was the twisting empty feeling in her stomach. It was very different from the butterflies feeling.

Rachael finished the mathletes program, even though she had lost complete interest in it. She had fought tooth and nail for it so she didn't want to make Alfred and Bruce suspicious with her sudden lack of enthusiasm. However, train rides were no fun for her anymore.

Rachael Grayson eventually did get over her first heartbreak. She almost completely forgot about the redhead too. Just like most people's first crushes, he slowly faded from Rachael's memory. The first crush did have a lasting effect on Rachael though. Rachael had a thing for redheads.

~/ *** \~

Rachael Grayson's current boyfriend was another redhead. However, it wasn't her first crush. It was her best friend-Roy Harper. Looking back on it, Rachael wasn't sure how the two of them had ended up dating but she did remember how they had become friends.

Oliver Queen had been Roy Harper's custodian. As is common with billion/millionaires, there had been a charity ball where both Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne had attended. That was where Rachael Grayson and Roy Harper had met and bonded over their mutual hatred of ballroom dancing.

Rachael remembered a time when there had been a lot of fighting with Bruce and a lot of storming out. Then one day she abruptly packed up her bags and headed straight to Star City where Roy had offered her sanctuary. She remembered bunking with Roy and eating stale pizza with him until Rachael finally moved into her own place at Bludhaven.

She remembered all of that but for Christ's sake, she couldn't remember how or even when they had started dating. All she knew with absolute certainty was the fact that she was very, very unhappy.

~/ *** \~

Rachael was in one of Gotham's café, sitting across Barbara and sipping coffee. She missed Gotham's coffee. Every single shop in Bludhaven sold coffee that tasted like crap. So Rachael was savoring the first cup of real coffee she had had in a while. This was one of the few times she came to Gotham: just to talk to Barbara.

"How long has he been gone?" Barbara asked, breaking her out of her bliss.

"Huh?" Rachael asked obliviously. "Who?"

Barbara rolled her eyes impatiently. "Roy Harper, that's who."

"Oh," Rachael said with a sinking feeling. They'd arrived at the topic she'd been desperate to avoid. "About three days or so."

"And why is he back in Star City again?" Barbara asked calculatingly. Rachael didn't like that tone.

"I told you, Ollie's been sick so someone has to take care of Connor and the finances," she said.

"That's a sorry excuse. He's avoiding you," Barbara told her frankly and Rachael cringed. "And you're avoiding him and both of you are avoiding the real issue. You have to break up with him, you know that right?" Barbara asked her sternly.

"I know that," Rachael replied quickly.

"Rachael, I think you both are very miserable with each other and you-"

"I said I know!" she burst out. "I know I have to do it so stop telling me alright? I'm only in Gotham for today. I don't want to waste our lunch on my sorry relationship, Babs."

Barbara eyed him critically before sighing. "So how are things going with Bru-"

"Any of my relationships," Rachael clarified. "Can't we talk about you for once?"

Barbara sighed once more before consenting. Although she relented this time, Rachael knew she would return to the subject eventually. The really depressing part was that Rachael knew Barbara was right.

After lunch, Barbara bid Rachael goodbye at the train station and Rachael sat down in her seat feeling miserable. The feeling might have persisted through the whole ride if it weren't for one other significant event that happened at the next station.

Someone sat down in front of him. A redheaded someone who also happened to have green eyes. The whole affair was so nauseatingly familiar to Rachael that it took her a while to realize she was staring and that the pair of green eyes was staring back curiously.

"Sorry," Rachael apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I just had the weirdest feeling of…déjà vu."

The person shrugged lightly. "That's okay, I don't mind. I'm Wally West by the way."

Rachael couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "Wally West? Nice alliteration."

Wally shrugged again, grinning. "My parents were poetic. What about you?"

"Rachael Grayson," Rachael replied. "Call me Rachael. So where are you from?"

"Palo Alto, I attend university there. I was in Central to visit my aunt."

"Palo Alto's a long way off," Rachael observed.

"Yeah, I have to shift trains after a while to get there. You?"

"I live in Bludhaven. In Gotham to visit a friend," Rachael saw his eyebrows rise at that and felt the need to defend against the ill-reputation of her city. "Bludhaven's not bad you know. The crime rates are high sure but the city has its charms too."

"Charms?" Wally snorted. "I kinda doubt that."

"Oh yeah? I guess I'm just gonna have to show you sometime," Rachael replied evenly and Wally smirked.

It was the conversation that had never happened.

~/ *** \~

At the age of twenty, Rachael had a better idea of love than she did from when she was thirteen. She had dated a fair number of people for someone her age. She was no virgin either. She was fairly certain she knew what love was supposed to feel like. She was fairly certain that she had never been in love with any of her previous boyfriends. She was also fairly certain that she was in love now. And it wasn't with her boyfriend.

It had started with her exchanging phone numbers with Wally at the end of the train ride. She had never expected to actually use it but somehow she had ended up texting him nearly every day. Somehow texting had developed into hour-long phone calls. Somehow those phone calls had turned to Skype-ing. And somehow, inexplicably, Skype had turned into unreasonable fluttery feelings and ridiculous blushes at the very thought of Wally.

Rachael was currently spending her Saturday fishing out old junk from the nooks and crannies of her apartment. It was a weary, time-consuming task but unfortunately it also gave her plenty of time alone with her thoughts.

She wondered listlessly as she rummaged through the bottom cupboards in her kitchen. Maybe love was too strong of a word for what she felt for Wally. Quite possibly, she was over-reacting. In fact it could entirely be the fact that Roy was still missing and Wally just happened to have red hair.

Rachael spent another ten minutes trying to convince herself of this before giving it up as a bad job. Truthfully, she felt more for Wally than she did for Roy. Roy was attractive-heck he was more than just 'attractive'-and Wally was too. The only difference was that Wally was the guy with whom she could argue Indiana Jones vs. Han Solo. He was the one she unreasonably felt herself leaning towards. She was also convinced that she had met the Wally before. She just wasn't sure where.

It did not help that in the past three weeks of knowing Wally (was three weeks too early?) she had neglected to mention the fact that she already had a boyfriend. She had not mentioned Wally to Roy or Roy to Wally and she had not broken up with Roy either.

Rachael knew she was being, well…bitchy for lack of a better word. There were lots of girls all over the world who had much bigger problems than finding Mr. Right. She grimaced at that thought. Her problems were much more easily remedied. But she just could not bring herself to do it.

She groped around the dark cupboard and felt something like a box at the back. She pulled at it a bit harder than was necessary and the box tumbled out, spilling its contents. It took Rachael a moment to recognize the cardboard box.

Alfred had had it delivered to her when she had first moved to Bludhaven. She had never bothered to open it at the time and had eventually forgotten about it. Now she realized that the box had contained photo albums. She gingerly picked up the one lying nearest to her and flipped through it.

She landed on a page where a seven-year old her was beaming at the camera. Behind her were Bruce and Alfred, also smiling. In front of her was a gigantic birthday cake which Alfred had baked.

Rachael smiled fondly at the memory. It was a photo of her first birthday at Wayne Manor. It had been just her, Bruce and Alfred. She had not spoken to Bruce for so long. She leaned back against the kitchen counter and groaned. It wasn't as though she was still mad at Bruce. It was just that she had left things so explosively, she had no idea on how to talk to them anymore.

Rachael glanced at her phone, wondering if simply calling them would be too impersonal when it started ringing, indicating a text message. She jumped and flipped through the phone. Her stupid heart leapt up at her throat when she saw that the message was from Wally.

'_hey, u mind if I come visit u at bludhaven?' _it said.

'_not at all, when?'_ Rachael hurriedly typed up a reply.

'_already here. meet me at the station?' _

It barley took Rachael five seconds to agree and start getting ready.

~/ *** \~

Wally was waiting at the station when she arrived, leaning back against a pillar. Rachael took a moment to appreciate his posture before cutting to the chase.

"You don't give much of a warning, West," she huffed.

Wally grinned at her cheekily and her stomach immediately started twisting itself into knots.

"I was bored," he replied. "Tomorrow's Sunday so I figured that I might as well come here. Unless you had something better to do…" he trailed off.

"Not really," Rachael grudgingly admitted. "I was just cleaning my apartment."

Wally smiled triumphantly. "Great! Instead of spending your day covered in dust, you get to spend it with me. It's a pretty fair deal," he said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Rachael rolled her eyes. "Lucky me," she said sarcastically even though her insides were practically screaming at the thought.

"Lucky you," he agreed breezily. "Now, I remember you saying something about Bludhaven's charms?"

He strode forward, grabbing her hand and Rachael felt like melting on the spot. Instead she swallowed her queasiness, threaded her fingers through his and led him out of the station.

~/ *** \~

"Well, to sum it all up, Bludhaven's coffee-crap, snacks-mediocre and alcohol-excellent," Wally informed Rachael. "My conclusion-I really like Bludhaven."

Rachael laughed at his assessment. Bludhaven, as it turned out, really did not have that many sights or charms so she had simply resorted to showing Wally around. They had stopped at a few cafés and a bar before finally retiring to Rachael's apartment.

Rachael found out soon enough that Wally could eat like a monster. What impressed Rachael the most was that Wally could really hold his liquor. She had never seen anyone drink so much and still remain completely coherent. In fact he looked like he was perfectly sober.

"You're amazing," Rachael told him. They were sitting around her kitchen counter just chatting idly. "If it was me, I'd be passed out by now."

"It's a gift," he replied brightly. Rachael laughed again and leaned her head against his shoulder. Another note on Wally, he was always incredibly warm. She was almost drifting off before she realized that she was being too comfortable with him. So she sat up straight and shook her head.

"Hey, is this you?" Wally asked and Rachael realized that he had found the photo album. She had forgotten to put it away when she left. She blushed, hurriedly snatched it away before he could get to any of the more embarrassing pictures.

He chuckled at her attitude. "You used to be so adorable! What happened?" he teased. Rachael only glared in response.

"Shut up before I hit you," she murmured. Wally laughed at her again before leaning forward to check something on her phone. Then it hit Rachael like a train.

"I met you before," she burst out and Wally looked at her in surprise. "I think...you used to take the train from Keystone to Central didn't you? I remember sitting across from you..." Rachael bit her lip as she thought of why she always sat across him.

Wally stared at her with confusion for so long that Rachael began to think she had made a mistake mentioning it to him. But then a flash of recognition lit up his eyes. "You were the girl with the pixie-cut!" he laughed out loud. "I remember you! You were adorable back then too. Man, I always thought you were a stalker-the way you kept staring!"

Rachael's cheeks heated up with colour at this. "Yeah, well...I had a huge crush on you," she retorted. "Still do, as a matter of fact!"

Rachael realized a moment too late that this had been the wrong thing to say. As Wally stared up at her in shock, she opened her mouth noiselessly.

"I'm sorry!" she squeaked. "I shouldn't have said that. It was-"

Rachael never got to finish the sentence because at that instant, Wally's lips came crashing down upon hers. She gasped into the kiss and circled her arms around his neck. Right then, Rachael Grayson was absolutely certain that she was in love with Wally West.

~/ *** \~

That night was one of the most perfect nights of Rachael Grayson's life. The morning after, however, was not so perfect.

Rachael woke up the next morning to find Wally fully dressed and fumbling under her bed in search of his shoes. She sat glanced down at him and felt slightly let down.

"Are you leaving already?" she croaked, her voice still hoarse. Wally didn't answer. He pulled out a shoe and began to busy himself with tying it.

"Wally?" she asked again.

"Your boyfriend called," Wally replied shortly."Said he needs to meet up with you. I told him I'd pass the message along."

And just like that Rachael's world came crashing down on her. She groaned aloud and buried her face in her hands. A few hours ago, everything had been perfect. Now it was just wrong.

"You didn't tell him, did you…That…" she asked in a quivering voice.

"What? That I spent the night having hot sex with his girlfriend?" Wally asked scathingly and Rachael winced. "Of course not, Rachael. That's your job."

"Look, Wally, I can explain," she started but he cut her off.

"Save it," he told her. Then he left, slamming the door shut behind him.

~/ *** \~

That day, Roy finally came back to Bludhaven. He came back with some unexpected news though. Rachael met up with him at a local café a few blocks from the station. The news was really unexpected.

"I'm pregnant," Roy told her.

"You're _what_?!" she yelped, certain she had heard him wrong.

"I mean I got someone pregnant," Roy hastily corrected himself.

"Who?!" Rachael asked in shock.

"Cheshire-I mean Jade. She's this girl back home and the thing is-," Roy hurriedly tried to explain. "I'm sorry Rach, I'm really, really sorry but I think I'm in love with her-"

To Roy Harper's immense surprise; instead of an explosion of anger his declaration was met with uncontrollable laughter from Rachael.

"Rach?" he asked and Rachael could tell that he was concerned about her mental health.

"I'm sorry, Roy," she said after she finally controlled herself. "It's just that you and I really need to talk. We have some stories to share."

~/ *** \~

"So let me get this straight," Zatanna said. "You cheated on Roy and Roy cheated on you…and you're both somehow okay with this."

"That's pretty much the gist of it," Rachael admitted.

"Wow, Rach. You're life sounds like a badly-written fanfiction," Zatanna mused.

"Thanks, Zee," Rachael replied sarcastically. "What I need now is a way to fix this."

"There's this one option you could try," Barbara leaned forward conspiratorially. "It's called go back in time and listen to Barbara!"

Rachael made a face at that. "You've made your point, Babs. You are infinitely wiser than I am and in future I will always listen to your advice. At present, Wally won't answer my calls and Facebook's no good either. I don't know where the guy lives!"

"Wait, his name's Wally West, right?" Barbara mused. "That can't be a common name."

"Probably isn't. So?" Zatanna asked.

"So there was this girl who went to Gotham Academy-Artemis Crock-She lives Palo Alto," Barbara said suddenly. "She used to be friends with a guy named Wally West!"

At that moment Rachael couldn't care less about how Barbara seemed to have information on everyone on the planet. Rachael was just extremely glad that she did.

~/ *** \~

Artemis Crock came through and Rachael found herself in Palo Alto in front of Wally's apartment. She steeled herself and rang the bell. She heard shuffling sound from inside and the door was opened.

Wally had evidently not been expecting her if his expression was anything to go by. He frowned at her and opened his mouth but Rachael interjected.

"Before you ask, I'm not stalking you," she smiled half-heartedly. "But I really need to explain myself to you. After that, you can judge me all you want. Please?" She asked hopefully.

Wally crossed his arms over his chest before sighing. "Come in," he said in monotone and Rachael smiled. She smiled because he hadn't completely rejected her yet.

She walked into the apartment that looked too clean to be Wally's. She nervously sat down on the couch in the living room and Wally sat down beside her. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Roy and I were best friends for a long time before we started dating," she started."When we started dating…well it didn't work out exactly but we were too scared of hurting each other to break up with each other. We didn't know how to end it without ruining our friendship. We didn't realize that the relationship itself was hurting our friendship."

She paused to look at Wally and shivered at the intense look he was giving her.

"We've broken up now, on good terms. We're still friends. He's in love with someone else and…I'm in love with you."

She saw him blink a little in shock and she bit her lip before continuing.

"It doesn't justify what I did," she said sadly. "I should have broken up with him or at the very least told you. I was wrong but I just wanted you to know that it wasn't cheating. It's not cheating if we were never really together in that way."

Wally didn't reply. Instead, he continued to stare at her as though he was dissatisfied in some way. Rachael swallowed her disappointment and got up to leave.

"That's all I had to tell you," Rachael said. When Wally still didn't reply Rachael took her leave.

That night, Rachael didn't go home to Bludhaven that night. She went home to Gotham, to Wayne Manor. And she finally apologized to Bruce and Alfred.

~/ *** \~

Next Saturday, Rachael got a text message from a very familiar number.

'_meet me at the station?'_

It barely took Rachael five seconds to reply.

~/ *** \~

When Rachael reached the train station, she found Wally leaning casually against a pillar. She rushed towards him, skidding to a stop next to him. He turned towards her and smiled which sent her heart racing against her ribs.

She opened her mouth but Wally cut in.

"Before you ask, I have two things to tell you," he told her very seriously."A-I've decided to forgive the fact you overlooked to tell me about 'Roy' and B-I'm in love with you too."

She smiled at him and he pressed his lips to hers and everything was perfect once again.

~/ *** \~

**A/N:** I read a multitude of fics where Wally cheats and Dick forgives him so I decided to have my one go like this instead. Sorry if it's too long. And can we please pretend that Wally used to live in Keystone? And that the train schedule isn't totally messed up? Thanks! Like it? Hate it? Leave a review!

P.S: There's a Friends quote here by Phoebe. Virtual cookies to anyone who can find it! Also I tried to reference Barbara's know-how as the Oracle but failed miserably. Oh, well.


End file.
